


Pragmatism

by p0cketw0tch



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Dark(ish)!Grant Ward, F/M, Hydra (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-10
Updated: 2014-04-22
Packaged: 2018-01-18 20:41:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1442140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/p0cketw0tch/pseuds/p0cketw0tch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He could save her. He had to. Collection of Hydra!Ward/Simmons drabbles in non-chronological order.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pragmatism

**Author's Note:**

> A little future AU drabble. Unbeta'd. Grant Ward's opinions of both other characters and philosophy are not my own.

Jemma was glaring ferociously at a point slightly above Grant’s left ear. If she had guessed his location correctly through the mirrored glass, it might have been eerie. As it was, she looked about as threatening as an angry kitten. Grant knew the impression of harmlessness was a false one. Jemma would never be a heavy hitter, combat wise, but a lot had changed in the last six months. Jemma was pragmatic, ruthlessly smart, and HYDRA’s computer algorithms had deduced that she was the mastermind behind many of the terrorists’ most successful raids. The raids planned by Jemma were the ones with the highest HYDRA agent body count and property destruction. It was a miracle she hadn't been killed.

It was a miracle he had this chance to save her.

It had been a desperate move, proposing to Baron Strucker that they capture the biologist in the assault against the terrorist’s final base. He had argued, as impassively as possible, that Agent Simmons was a scientist at heart. She was extremely pragmatic and would see the futility of fighting once the fragments of the remaining rebels were squashed. Away from the influence of her former comrades, Simmons could be led to see that the logic and order of HYDRA was for the good of the world. It would be a shame to lose such a mind. She could do great work in the New Order for the Glory of HYDRA. He had almost stopped breathing when the Baron had agreed to run the data through HYDRA’s computer algorithm. The AI had deemed the risk to be an acceptable one.

It had been a struggle to act as if it were any other mission. Any show of anxiety and someone might conclude that his assessment was driven by emotional attachment; might decide that the data that gave him a chance to save Jemma was corrupted and, therefore, unusable.

Not even Garrett had looked at him twice though. Grant had gotten a lot of ribbing over all the “pretty girls” on the team from his former S.O. It had been obvious that most of his superiors believed he had been compromised; that he weakened against the cause by his bonds with his former team. The comments ceased after Grant personally took out Coulson and Skye three months back. No one questioned his devotion to the cause after that.

Grant felt a twinge of grief at the thought of his former trainee. He had truly grown to care for the girl. He hadn't expected to enjoy being part of a team, but they had grown to feel like family. But the world HYDRA was creating had to be protected. It was a world of order, free of terrorism and hate crimes. HYDRA was building world in which computers could detect and predict those who would kill or abuse and stop them before they began. No innocent child would grow up afraid of their own family or neighbors. Skye was too rebellious, too wild, too strongly entrenched in her faith in human nature to ever listen. She had faith in the people, believed that humanity could be trusted with its own fate. She believed in the good of mankind. Grant had seen enough of mankind to realize how wrong she was.

With Jemma, there was a chance. There had to be a chance. Jemma was smart, had trusted him once before. Grant knew if he could just get Jemma to listen, to see the good that they were doing she would come to understand the necessity of destroying those who fight against HYDRA. That the assassinations and atrocities he had committed were so that others would not have to. She would see the amazing work she could do in the field that she loved with the backing of the New Order.

As Grant walked towards the door of the interrogation room, he wondered if Jemma had realized yet that Fitz had been killed in the last raid. That everyone else had been summarily executed. That she was the last of those who had fought so desperately against the Glory of HYDRA. It would be difficult, but he could do this. He could get Jemma to see the truth. He could save her. He had to.

Grant reached for the handle, let out a breath, and opened the door.


	2. Cross-hairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here she was, alone and unprotected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little HYDRA!Ward/Simmons drabble that takes place some time before my previous ficlet. Not entirely happy with the last bit. Endings are hard.

Grant was heading to a rendezvous point in Annapolis to report on a job when the tip came in; there was a ghost in Boston, possibly one SHIELD’s remaining rogue agents. Even in death, the Fury’s secrets had remained elusive and the surviving organization had proven to be quite the hindrance to HYDRA’s work. Orders were to kill on sight. Garrett wasn’t expecting him for another day so he made a quick detour. The boogie had been spotted at a café downtown twice, each time around three in the afternoon, so he settled to wait on a roof across the street.

It was two hours later and he was shifting to shake the pins out of his left foot when he spotted her crossing the street. She was thinner and her hair had been cut to a bob, but the elfin features of Jemma Simmons were unmistakable. Grant forgot everything else as he studied the petite scientist. In his time on the team Simmons had always been smiling, a constant strand of humor and optimism in her expression except in the most dire of situations. Her expression now was somber, creased with stress and exhaustion. Although she was as immaculately groomed as ever, he could see traces of circles under her eyes and her shoulders were bowed under her cheerful yellow sweater. He wondered if she was still having nightmares about falling, if she still woke up in the middle of the night panicking over Skye. He wondered if there was anyone there to meet her in the kitchen for chamomile tea at three in the morning. If anyone was reminding her to work on her firing stance, if anyone had starting coaching her on undercover work. He wondered if she had found a way to let her parents know that she was alive. He wondered what she did during the hour on Monday that she had always spoken on the phone with her parents.

His finger convulsed around the trigger as he was jolted back to the present. His fingers felt oddly numb as he refocused the cross-hairs over the scientist’s heart. However bad a liar or combatant the scientist was, his duty to HYDRA was clear. The she was a genius and a threat to the New Order. Coulson’s team was ruining operations at every turn. With as small of a group as the remnants of SHIELD, the loss of an agent would be a devastating. The scientist was beloved by the whole crew, her death would impact everyone on the team. Coulson would be down a medic and half of his science team. Fitz might even be knocked out of commission by the blow. Most people were too cowardly, too comfortable in their delusions of the goodness of human nature to face what had to be done. The lives of the few outweighed the many and Jemma Simmons was no different. She was an enemy of the New Order.

His jaw clenched as he felt a surge of rage at the rest of his former team for putting her in this situation. Fitz, Skye, Coulson, May, they had all professed to care about the team, to care about Simmons. But here she was, alone and unprotected. How could they bring her into this? How could they let her wander off without back up? Jemma had never been meant to fight a war, should never have been dragged into the world of spooks. She was too bright, too sweet, too caught up in awe of life’s mysteries. She hadn't even passed her field test. She could have stayed at the hub after SHIELD’s break down, reintegrated into society. With her brains, HYDRA would have smoothed the way to some prominent lab where she would have worked, if unaware, for the betterment of the New Order. She would have been able to explore alien biology to her heart’s content, been revered for her brains and discoveries. Instead Coulson had dragged her into his harebrained cause, taken her from her parents, wiped her identity, and made her a threat to HYDRA. Now she was out here alone, obviously not coping well, with a price on her head and no one had even taught her better than to leave traceable behavioral patterns.

His duty was clear. Grant breathed evenly and focused the scope of his rifle as Jemma ordered from the waitress. He calculated for wind speed as she accepted her tea and sandwich with a ghost of a smile for the waitress and pulled out a novel. He focused the cross hairs over her chest as she picked at her sandwich with a ghost of her usual enthusiasm. It remained trained over her heart as she answered a phone call, as the person on the other end of the line said something that made her laugh; momentarily chasing away the shadows she had gained in the last year. It remained as she finished her book and thanked the waitress with a smile more genuine than before. It remained until she walked out of the café and disappeared, two hours after she had arrived, still oblivious to her silent watcher.


End file.
